This book could have been titled All You Ever Wanted To Know About Human Decomposition But Was Afraid To Ask. Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson detail real crimes and describe the forensic techniques that they’ve used over the years to solve them.

This is the real deal and not a conveniently solved in 45 minutes TV show. Some of the cases are solved some aren’t. Some cases are done and dusted in one chapter others are spread over 2 or 3. You’ll be amazed that people who murder will leave cigar butts behind, why the artificial horizon instrument can work differently in some aircraft and why you shouldn’t mix explosive with an electric drill.

The only case that I knew about was of The Big Booper and how the music died when the aircraft he was in, with Ritchie Valens and Buddy Holly, crashed in 1959. The farmer, whose field the plane crashed in, later found a loaded gun that belonged to Holly. Also The Booper’s body was found some distance from the crash. So did he survive the crash and crawl away from the wreckage? And what would The Big Booper look like after all these years? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

By the time you’ve finished this book you too will be able to tell the difference between a male and a female skull.

Sir Les PattersonThe online archive of Sir Leslie Colin Patterson. Wit, sage, raconteur, late Cultural Attaché to the Court of St James and Chairperson of the Australian Chapter of the International Cheese Board.